Shipyard marks Treaty of Portsmouth anniversary

KITTERY, Maine — One hundred six years after city bells rang in Portsmouth, N.H., to mark the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is sounding its whistle in honor of the anniversary.

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt invited envoys of Russia and Japan to the United States to negotiate an end to the war. The peace conference was held at the shipyard that summer, and the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed at 3:47 p.m. Sept. 5.

On Monday, the anniversary will be marked with a small military detail on the Shipyard Mall, and an extended sounding of the shipyard whistle at 3:47. The salute is part of a larger effort by the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Forum, which encourages Portsmouth organizations to ring bells on the anniversary.